Home Super Brewery Build: Hybrid Electric/Gas 3BBL Build

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Pitching the starter!

image-1459235273.jpg
 
Chamuco said:
Yeah buddy! Now that's a starter.....ended up being 8 gallons?
Click to expand...

Hi Chad!

Like 8.5G. The original issue is that I could only get my hands on 5 tubes of wlp530 for brew day so I did a multi stage starter to compensate. Then to insure that my gravity wasn't totally diluted by a huge starter I bumped the grain bill up. My efficiency was off which I don't get as I did the same mill, slightly less volume than last time and a saccharification rest at 140 (per the oestmalle recipe) so I had an extended mash and even mashed out with the herms system so there was an extended recirc for conversion.....

The good news is that it is started at about 1.080 and was fermenting about an hour and a half post pitching the starter.

Give me a call tomorrow so we can figure out the cold room AC vent please!
 
Carlscan26 said:
Shiny! Did you get that tray with a drain?
Click to expand...

Yes sir. Beverage factory is the only one I could find that had the holes 4" on center with 5 taps. Fastev fabbed me an equally shiny piece to match it on the inside of the cold room. One thing I hadn't accounted for though is with the wall mount I cannot run my big tap handles! There isn't enough clearance and if I space them off the wall any further the stainless shanks aren't long enough to couple through the back. It's crazy but it all worked. Going to order some Williams stainless tap handles to round it all out and apply chalkboard paint above for the brews on tap.
 
marcb said:
Yes sir. Beverage factory is the only one I could find that had the holes 4" on center with 5 taps. Fastev fabbed me an equally shiny piece to match it on the inside of the cold room. One thing I hadn't accounted for though is with the wall mount I cannot run my big tap handles! There isn't enough clearance and if I space them off the wall any further the stainless shanks aren't long enough to couple through the back. It's crazy but it all worked. Going to order some Williams stainless tap handles to round it all out and apply chalkboard paint above for the brews on tap.
Click to expand...

Pick yourself up some of these for those big tap handles:

http://www.kegworks.com/angle-bonnet-for-draft-beer-faucet-855-p174031
 
unclephilly said:
THIS.

This is the most awesome build I have ever seen someone do to their garage!
Click to expand...

Thank you, it definitely takes a certain blend of obsession, craziness and the right mix of talented friends to pull this off!
 
unclephilly said:
...and lots of money and many, many beers!
Click to expand...

Lol, true although I've got to say that after lusting after used 2-3BBL systems for almost a year I ended up spending about as third as much to build as I would have spent buying a used system. The talented friends had much to do with that all working out! Cheers!
 
jjadamsfb said:
Don't forget SWMBO. She is obviously awesome and loves beer.
Click to expand...

Never! If it weren't for her attitude, love of beer and ability to ignore my lack of ability to stick within a budget this never would have happened!
 
marcb said:
Lol, true although I've got to say that after lusting after used 2-3BBL systems for almost a year I ended up spending about as third as much to build as I would have spent buying a used system. The talented friends had much to do with that all working out! Cheers!
Click to expand...

Since you can get a similar 3bbl setup from psychobrew for about $15K, is it safe to say you have less than $5K in the brew setup (mash & boil equip only)? That's awesome! Inspirational!:rockin:
 
nvrstck said:
Since you can get a similar 3bbl setup from psychobrew for about $15K, is it safe to say you have less than $5K in the brew setup (mash & boil equip only)? That's awesome! Inspirational!:rockin:
Click to expand...

Brain is too tired for math right now! I will tally up a list and prices. I'm guessing that for the brewery with fermenters and control panel total was about 10k. Really stoked on being able to do two different beers in one brew day!
 
Drain line in for the taps! First pour on the first tap from the first keg of the first beer produced by this awesomeness!

image-3554721150.jpg
 
BadDeacon said:
And that makes it all worth it!! Congrats!
Click to expand...

Thank you sir! We have now got 4 taps flowing, an Amarillo Pale Ale, Blind Pig clone, apple-cranberry-raspberry cider, Belgian Tripel. I wanted all five up and running but I will settle for four!
 
marcb

Nice looking coils they do look hard to clean and might allow unwanted bugs into your brew.
Are you going to use them to make lagers or just to control your fermentation temperature?
Great thread BTW
 
Boar Beer said:
marcb

Nice looking coils they do look hard to clean and might allow unwanted bugs into your brew.
Are you going to use them to make lagers or just to control your fermentation temperature?
Great thread BTW
Click to expand...

I had not correctly accounted for the thermal mass of fermenting beer. My last batch of Tripel went from 68 degrees to 80 in 12 hours with the massive starter we pitched. A/C had the garage pretty steady at 60-62 degrees and it did not drop for a good 48 hours until primary fermentation started to slow down. These are an insurance policy for good beer. I would rather scrub these and spend a little extra care on sanitizing them than to drink hot, solvent tasting beer. Originally the fermenters were supposed to be on wheel so that I could roll them into the cold room but that didn't work out.
 
That makes sense. The more variables you control the more repeatable your beer will be.
I am looking at one of these POLI plastic banding cooling wraps. For a 24 in diameter tank you need a 74 in long by 16 in wide band. The problem is the $450 dollar price.

http://www.pacificwinemaking.com/catalogue/c56/c97/p319

But I must say the service area does look like it would work.

In any case I am following your thread to see how your system works out
 
ClaudiusB said:
Lot's of hoses out there, Goodyear brewing hoses, Noreprene®, etc.
Search for brewing hoses or go to US plastic.
Most of my hoses are Noreprene® A-60-F, NSF-51 tubing, max. temp 275° F.





Cheers,
Claudius
Click to expand...


Hi Claudius, thanks for the tip on the hoses - I ended up going with the norprene! Did you build or buy the hose hanger? If you wouldn't mind I'd like a pic or two and any details you can share as I need to get a hose rack built.
 
This is a pretty intense build. I'm curious of the size of the stir plate you were using for that 8gallon starter, if you used one at all.

Im still trying to wrap my head around the scope of this build, what sort of power/gas bills are you expecting with this setup?
 

Similar threads

Dounlehillbrew
For Sale HERMS hybrid rig and all equipment
Replies
3
Views
389
Dounlehillbrew
Dounlehillbrew
CurtHagenlocher
For Sale FREE - All my stuff for local pickup in Seattle area
Replies
5
Views
594
giraffeman
giraffeman
Hop
Ongoing Review: BrewHardware Premium Recirculating BIAB Package
Replies
4
Views
692
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
ndinh
For Sale Complete homebrew setup- hybrid electric/gas
Replies
3
Views
830
fljim
fljim
A
For Sale 15 gal all-grain Electric System with Fermenter and Kegerator - Austin, TX - $500
Replies
2
Views
1K
adamc867
A
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top